So, I'm confused about a few things.

Been reading manuals, etc.  I noticed that my massive heat sink/fan that I ordered (which I may go back on, it seems a bit excessive) says to already have thermal grease applied between the heat sink and the fan.

The mobo instructional manual says to put thermal grease on top of the CPU but the heat sink/fan don't mention that at all.

So, where am I supposed to put thermal grease?  Do I even need any with the mobo and heat sink I have?

heat sink: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290

Reading the specs on that heatsink it says it comes with pre-applied thermal grease MX-2 (under features). So you don't have to apply any.  You'll be able to see the grease as two grey strips on the underside of the heatsink.

Yeah, I see that but I'm not sure where that is applied.  Is that between the fan and the heatsink (would that even make sense) or would it be on the bottom of the heat sink that connects to the CPU? If it is the latter, how can they ship that without the grease coming off/getting all over the packaging?

Installation guide for heat sink and fan is here http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/images/installation_Freezer_7_Pro_Rev_2.pdf and doesn't mention applying any grease between the CPU and heat sink though it does mention that some is already applied to the heat sink.

Color me confused.

The heatsink presses directly on the CPU and has a large flat surface underneath the cooling fins where it contacts the CPU.  This is where the thermal grease is.  The thermal grease is actually very viscous at room temperature and doesn't smear off easily (they may also put a protective sticker on it). It looks likes this.

When you're installing these components be aware of the orientation, it is very important that the CPU goes into the motherboard properly.  It's fairly obvious how things go in, just be sure you read the manual.  Some of the items (RAM especially) require a bit of force to get them seated properly.  If in doubt, ask!

Edit, link redirect

RAM and drive/card installation I've done a lot.

Last time I installed a CPU was a 486 DX 66 MHz, we didn't have heat sinks back then, so this is all new to me.

Ok, so it seems like I don't need the artic 5 I purchased then (but maybe I'll keep it?) and maybe I don't even need that heat sink I bought.  I purchased it because I read that the stock heat sink was loud and sucked for my CPU.  Dammit, buyer's remorse already :(

lol, well I bought arctic 5 with my CPU and kept the stock heatsink (but it seems pretty good/quiet), with the original thermal grease on it.  I plan on re-greasing my heatsink if my core temps start to rise or after 2 years.  I also have a PS3 that is getting pretty old and could probably use a new greasing as well. 

If the stock heatsink is getting bad reviews then it would be wise to use the one you purchased and flog the old one on cragslist or something.  The cooler your PC runs the better.

Well, everything went well and the machine is up and running.  Only issue is that when I was putting in my RAM, somehow, the little arm (which snaps in place and holds the RAM) popped off.  I mean, literally, I had it in my hands!  I was so pissed.

Seemed to pop back in though (I'm really unsure about this and a little squeemish about it, but I've already set evyerthing up, I'm not sure if it is worth the effort to RMA my mobo because of it).  Been 6 days and no problems with the RAM, needless to say I'm not touching that RAM slot until I absolutely have to.

That's great that you got it all together.

How is your new system treating you. Does it do everything that you need it to?

Its just a plastic tab. I assume you have two ram slots free? If you do, just use the other ones. In any case you could pop it back on. Pretty much any funny little piece of plastic which pops off something can be popped back.

So far so good had no problems whatsoever.

Only downsides I can think of were the little plastic arm popping off and me putting it back in.  Also, the aftermarket heatsink I bought is pretty damn huge and intrudes onto my DIMM slot area.  That, combined with the fact that my RAM has some little plastic "shield" type covering makes it so the shield covering of one of my RAM sticks is touching the shielf of the RAM stick next to it.

The actual RAM is in straight, just the heat sink is pushing the shield think out of place and into the other RAM stick's shield.  Doesn't seem to be shorting anything or affecting performance at all, so maybe it is nothing.

I'm digging windows 7.

No one wants to but my old PC off of me and I kinda want to regain some of my expense from this.

Not a bad overall experience and I definitely know what I am doing now and it would take much less time to do it again a second time.